Monday, October 11, 2010

ROSEDALE: PROTOTYPES

These are my sketches for Lance and I's three ideas, or you could call them prototypes. I basical have some visual representations of what were thinking of doing.Here is what we did in class today. We took these as templates and basically drew all over them, it was a good way to keep our ideas contained within these directions.

Mo and Lance's brainstorming via Mo's Blog post

Lance and I have done a lot of brainstorming for this project. We always go back to our question which is "how can graphic design help give the Rosedale district distinct boundaries and a greater sense of community pride?". We have focused a lot on the banners, because it seems to be the one thing that everyone goes to first. Every member of the Rosedale community has either hinted at or told us that they need new banners, or would at least like to see them. It is hard to really bridge away from this solution since it is wanted so badly from the community members. Lance and I have thought about the banners, and maybe making them participatory.

Maybe the kids draw the artwork? What if someone were to ask them to draw their vision of Rosedale, and that gets printed on the banners? They would then feel directly apart of the community, and they would have a semi-permanent mark within it. They would be proud, and would want to show it off to their family and friends.

What if the old banners were re-claimed and turned into handbags that are sold at a local market to promote grocery shopping? Or maybe the bags are sold at the church's to promote library usage, because it is good for holding educational material?

We also thought about points of positive interest within Rosedale being accentuated. For example, the fire hydrants are a positive thing. They could be painted by the kids, and this would be subtle, but powerful if you were to come across one.

The idea of stenciling seems very appealing as well, being it is affective and affordable. It also won't damage the surfaces if chalk or natural materials are used. The stencils could sustain many uses as well. These could say many different things such as factual information, or emotional snippets. For example, "the Rosedale farmer's market is from 12-3 on Sundays at the health center" or "visit us at www.rosedale.org for more information".

Lance and I have contacted Angel Dew who was the coordinator for the 42nd Street mural, and she believes strongly in the arts within Rosedale. She mentioned her want for a youth art center behind the mural, and this was of interest to both Lance and I. Although it might be better to consider for a degree project, we are going to keep this in mind.

The directional signs that are used in Rosedale could also be altered to give a sense of distinction. For example all of the signs that are in Rosedale could be a different color compared to Kansas Cities. This would be a simple change, but it could be just enough to mark Rosedale.

Lance and I also talked heavily about taking an old photograph of Rosedale and painting parts of it around the city. It would fit together like a puzzle, and could go on display in the park or something. Although, this idea was highly revolved around us and not necessarily the members of the community. We see this as a problem.

I will say that it is difficult to try and rule out the banners for the sake of good brainstorming, because we know that Rosedalians want new banners pretty badly. So, we are trying to brainstorm deeper into the idea of banners. How can the banners stem across other systems, and help out the community in a dual fashion?